Indonesian priest injured in church attack

MEDAN:– A knife-wielding man stabbed a Catholic priest and tried to set off an explosive device at a church in Indonesia on Sunday, police said, the latest attack on religious minorities in the mainly Muslim country. Priest Albert Pandiangan was holding a mass in the city of Medan on the western island of Sumatra when a young man approached him and stabbed him in his left arm, said local chief detective Nur Fallah. The attacker was carrying a homemade explosive device, said Fallah.–AFP

"Somebody tried to kill the priest by pretending to attend the church service and at that time tried to explode something, like a firecracker, but the firecracker didn't explode, it only fumed," Fallah told reporters.

The priest suffered slight injuries and has been taken to hospital for treatment.

A picture of the attacker's ID card circulating online said he was Muslim.

In recent years there have been a number of attacks on religious minorities and others in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.